Homo Naledi edit
Homo naledi was first found in the Rising Star cave system in Africa and is a distant relative of modern day humans and is a species of hominini. It is expected to have lived from 236,000 years ago and 335,000 years ago. It gets its name after the Sesotho word for “star.[1] It was also made a part of the genus Homo on September of 2015.
The Discovery of Homo naledi edit
The fossils were found in a pitch-black cave which was very difficult to access. After finding the first fossil, an excavation team set out to search the site where the first one was found, Dinaledi Chamber, which was extremely difficult to get to. The Dinaledi chamber housed an extinct population and became one of the most significant sites for the study of human evolution. ³ They then came to the conclusion that with the discovery of Homo naledi, that there must have been more diversity in Africa in this time period than they previously thought.[2]
A hand of the Homo naledi was found in the Rising Star cave system by two cavers, Rick Hunter and Steve Tucker, while exploring the cave system in 2013. The fingers on the hand were longer and more curved than most Australopiths, which indicated the frequent use of it for locomotion climbing and suspension. The skeletal shape was odd to the scientists that studied it and is said to be a mix of the old and the modern.[2]This is for the reason that the head was small, which was usually found in early hominin which were more than a million years old. While their hands and feet were built more like our modern-day limbs, to stand up straight and to be adept at using them. They also had a torso and shoulders like an ape. [1]
With their age not well known, scientists do now know where they fit in in the family tree, which can only be known by their age.[1] This can make them difficult to put them in the human evolutionary ladder, this is because of their characteristics of having a small head while also having the ability to stand up right and use their hands for things such as climbing. Scientists have found 1,500 fossil specimens in The Dinaledi Chamber[3] and from those, about 150 are hand bone specimens[4] that are assumed to belong to Homo naledi, which can contribute to the debate of, if climbing and suspension became an important component of the early Hominin. For the research on this to be done, they must find a Hominin hand bone that is well-preserved.
Analyzing the Evidence edit
Finding the real age of the fossils proved to be very difficult for scientists, they tried a couple of different methods to get as accurate to the date as they could. The paleontologist that founded the first Homo naledi fossil and was also a member of the scientific team, Lee Berger, estimated that its dating was approximately 2 million years old. After using some isotopic testing, Mr. Berger found that the approximate age that we use now, of 236,000 and 335,000. He also believes that Homo naledi is from a more ancient line that first appeared 2 million years ago.[3] Mr. Berger also believed that the bodies were placed in the cave a short time before their death.
The average adult Homo naledi was presumably between 140 and 160 centimeters in height and weighed from 40 to 55 kilograms. Males and females were about the same size, only changing slightly between the genders. Heather Garvin of Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania gathered this information and also concluded that Homo naledi had a relatively small brain for the size of its body.
Debra Bolter of Modesto Junior College in California studied the different ages of the individuals of Homo naledi though their dental remains. He was able to study Homo naledi from the beginning of its life till the end through the fossils found in the cave and the variation of the individuals that died there. This was an exceptional sample in our evolutionary record because of how well preserved the fossils were and how many specimens there was, being able to study every life stage of an extinct species is difficult without this much evidence. Scientists believe that studying Homo naledi more will help us understand why we have a longer childhood development stage than other primates. [5]
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References edit
- ^ a b c "This Mysterious Ape-Human Just Added a Twist to the Human Story". 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- ^ a b Zhang, Sarah (2017-05-09). "A New Addition to the Human Family Tree Is Surprisingly Young". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- ^ a b Hawks, John. "The Latest on Homo naledi". americanscientist.org. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ^ Kivell, Tracy L.; Deane, Andrew S.; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Orr, Caley M.; Schmid, Peter; Hawks, John; Berger, Lee R.; Churchill, Steven E. (2015-10-06). "The hand of Homo naledi". Nature Communications. 6 (1): 8431. doi:10.1038/ncomms9431. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4597335. PMID 26441219.
- ^ Tönsing, Detlev L. (2017-02-08). "Homo faber or homo credente? What defines humans, and what could Homo naledi contribute to this debate?". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 73 (3). doi:10.4102/hts.v73i3.4495. ISSN 2072-8050.